Impeovement in elevatoe guides



o. 'TUPTS ELEVATOR GUIDE.

UNO. 60,443. Patented Deo. 11, 1866.

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OTIS TUFTS, OF BOSTON., MASSACHUSETTS. Letters Patent No. 60,443, dated December 11, 1866.

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TO ALL WHOM IT MAY' CONCERN:

BeA it known that I, OTIS TUFTS, of Boston, inthe county of Suffolk, and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Elevator Guides; and I do hereby declare that the, following, taken in connection with the drawings which'accompany and form part of this specicatiomis a description of my invention, sulicient 4to enable those skilled in the art to practise it.

The constantly increasing use of elevators in houses, hotels, and public buildin gs, especially where employed wholly or in part for conveyance of persons, calls for refinement' in their detail ofconstruction, arrangement, and methods of operation.

This invention relates to means by which an elevator car (such as -is made up of a platform provided with vertical guides rising therefrom to a considerable height, and suspended from an overhead connection of said guides, whether said car is wholly encased so as to make a cage or box,`or whether it is an open frame-work rising fromand attached to a platform,) is so guided as to prevent sway thereof, and noise consequent upon contact of the guided body and theways upon which it is guided. The usual line of motion of such an elevator car is substantially vertical. it hanging freely suspended between slides or ways, which, being affixed to the walls and partitions fbuildfngs, are not capable, in practical use, of perfect adjustment, being liable to disturbance of position, consequent upon the shrinkage of timbers, settling of foundations, &c., so that if the guides l or cross-heads of the car t closely to the slides or ways, sticking and binding will occur, accompanied with disagreeable noisesand loss of power; and if the guides or cross-heads but loosely embrace the slides or' ways, then the swinging of the car will annoy its passengers, and the noise consequent upon4 the striking of the car in its vibrations against the slides will annoy the occupants of the building as well as the car passengers. In hotels, and public buildings, such as hospitals, for example, where the elevator may be required to be operated at any hour-of the night, it is highly desirable to have its operation entirely noiseless and free from jar or vibration. This can only be accomplished byfhaving the guides or cross-heads closely embrace the ways or slides; and to cause said parts to have and sustain such relations to each other without sticking and abrading is the object of myV invention, herein set forth, which consists, first, in combining the freely-suspended car with guides, which are kept in contact with -their slides by springs', -which act to force the guides towards the slides,

and which admit of movement of the guidestoward and away from, the ways or slides; secondly, in forming the acting face of such yielding guides as are arranged to operate in the before-specied connection of yielding material, so as vto avoidthe 4vibratory sounds consequent upon the contact of two metallic bodies; thirdly, in the combination with a freely-suspended car of an elevatorA of guides faced with vulcanized rubber, of sniiicient thickness to yield to irregularities of the ways, so as neither to bind thereon or to fail to keep contact therewith,

l so as to prevent swinging motion of the car; fourthly, in the detail of the construction of the'guiding-slides of an elevator, by which the ratchet teeth of a safety-rack are enclosed, and are reinforced by the material with the surfaces of which the guides come in contact.

Figure 1 shows a sectional elevation of un elevator, embodying my above-specified improvements.

Figuie 2 is a plan of the car of the elevator` showing the slides or ways and their supporting frame in elevation.

The car is provided on each sido of thc top and bottom with guides arranged to bear against the Ways in such a manner as to prevent motion of the car in any direction. With the form of ways, shown in g. 2, three guides are shown and are required at each upper and lower odge of the car, making ,twelve guidesin all, and amongst these guides the diierent varieties in detail of construction before named are shown. The number of guides may be lessened, as illustrated at A, B, C, and D, on the drawing, the forms of guidesj'and waysshown at A and B requiring but four guides, and the forms shown at C and D requiring but eight guides. The ways marked a are provided with ratchet teeth, b, which, in connection with spring pawls or catches, may be made to serve as a safety apparatus to prevent the car from falling, in case of the breakage of the hoisting ropes or chains. These teeth are reinforced by flanges, c, cast integral therewith and with the body, a, of the ways, said flanges receiving on their wide or side surfaces, and on their edges or narrow surfaces, contact of the guides as they are moved up and down with the car. The guides are mounted on shafts, d, which, are free to rotate in boxes, e, said boxes being so arranged as to be capable of sliding in the direction of .their 'length in grooves made in the castings, f, said boxes being, with the guides which they carry, kept constantly pressed up toward the faces of the flanges, c, by means of springs, g, the degree of pressure being regulated by set-screws, L. It will be seen that the guides on the shafts will be kept by the springs, g, always in contact with the surfaces of the ways, yielding to any projections on the ways, and following into depressions therein, thus keeping the car from lateral motions. Thev guides I prefer to have made as wheels, so as to roll on the surfaces of the ways; but they may be made like the shoe, as shown at z' in iig. 1. One of the guides, j, which is made as a wheel, has thereon a band or ring of vulcanized rubber, the elasticity of which causes it to pass easily over any irregularities in the ways, and is sufficient in all ordinary eases to insure constant and noiseless contact of the guide with the ways in the vertical 'movements of the car. The guides marked k k c are freely-rotating wheels, with leather faces, the wheels being made up of leather disks clamped between metallic disks; other suitable material may be employed in lieu of the leather to produce a guide-wheel which shall have a face that will act noiselessly, wood, paper, green hide, and other materials, answering the purpose of preventing the sound which arises from the motion of a metallic wheel over a metallic rail. The otherY guide-wheels, so far as they are seen in the drawings, and which are plain metallic wheels, are marked Z.

I claim combining the suspended car of an elevator with the ways or rails which confine it, by means of guides vkept by springs constantly in contact with said Ways or rails, when said guides are so arranged as to be capable of motion toward and from the rails.

Also, combining with the car and rails of an elevator guide-wheels provided with soft-surfaced peripheries, so as to' operate as set forth.

Also, combining with the car and rails of an elevator guide-wheels having elastic peripheries, for the purpose specified. i

Also, the rails or ways a, provided with ratchet teeth, b, reinforced by flanges, c c.

OTIS TUFTS. l

Witnesses:

J. B. CROSBY, W. B. GLEAsoN. 

